Bibliography for Teachers
Bell, Barry. “Reading, and ‘Misreading,’ the Declaration of Independence.” Early American Literature 18, no. 1 (1983): 71–83. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25056496. A useful consideration of the intellectual and theoretical influences on the declaration.
Blight, David W. Yale and Slavery: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2024. An excellent resource for New Haven teachers to understand the connections between the institution of slavery and the city’s flagship university. Especially useful in considering the attempts to establish a Black college in New Haven.
Boulton, Alexander. "The Declaration of Independence and the Language of Slavery." Journal of the Early Republic 44, no. 1 (2024): 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1353/jer.2024.a922049. This source critically analyzes the use of the language of bondage and slavery in many Patriot texts and writings, and the pointed absence of this rhetoric from the Declaration.
College for colored youth: an account of the New-Haven city meeting and resolutions: with recommendations of the college, and strictures upon the doings of New-Haven, New York: Published by the Committee, 1831. https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2053945 A collection of primary sources related to the Black college in New Haven.
Cornelius, Janet. “‘We Slipped and Learned to Read:’ Slave Accounts of the Literacy Process, 1830-1865.” Phylon (1960-) 44, no. 3 (1983): 171–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/274930. An excellent account of how enslaved people subverted power structures in learning to reading.
Crow, Jeffrey. “‘Liberty to Slaves’: The Response of Free and Enslaved Black People to Revolution.” NCPedia. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/liberty-slaves-response-free. A good introduction to the responses of Black people to the events of the American Revolution.
Davis, David Brion. Was Thomas Jefferson an authentic enemy of slavery?: An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 18 February 1970. Oxford: Clarendon, 1970. This text critically considers Thomas Jefferson’s position as both an enslaver and as an opponent to slavery in writing.
Garrison, William Lloyd. Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention, Selections from the Writings of W. L. Garrison. Boston: 1852, 66–71. Garrison is one of the most important leaders in the abolition movement, and the declaration of sentiments provided an ideological roadmap to abolitionism.
Hattem, Michael D. The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024. A very excellent take on the American Revolution in historical memory, as readers understand how interpretations of its events and texts like the Declaration have changed in the public imagination over time.
King, L.J. (2014), "More Than Slaves: Black Founders, Benjamin Banneker, and Critical Intellectual Agency", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 88- 105. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-03-2014-B0007. An important pedagogical consideration on the importance of including Black voices like Banneker’s in social studies education.
Rediker, Marcus. The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom. New York: Penguin Books, 2013. An excellent account of the Amistad Rebellion, an essential event of the abolition movement.
Report of the Woman's Rights Convention, held at Seneca Falls, New York, July 19th and 20th, Proceedings and Declaration of Sentiments. John Dick at the North Star Office, Rochester, New York, July 19-20, 1848. Online Text. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbcmiller001106/. This report includes the Declaration of Sentiments, which mirrors the form and structure of the Declaration of Independence precisely
Sinha, Manisha. The slave’s cause: A history of abolition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. An extensive text on the history of abolitionism, giving primacy to Black voices and participation in the movement.
Steinmetz-Jenkins, Daniel. “Charles Mills Thinks Liberalism Still Has a Chance.” The Nation, December 8, 2021. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/charles-mills-thinks-theres- still-time-to-rescue-liberalism/. A useful consideration on how the ideas of John Locke supported systems of white supremacy.
Williams, Heather Andrea. Self-taught: African American education in Slavery and Freedom. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Another excellent resource on Black education and literacy over the years.
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